Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Decent

SharjahMunicipality has ordered shop dummies, or mannequins, to be rendered headless and to be decently clothed. The Gulf Newsgleefully reports: “A circular was recently sent to all shops stating the heads of mannequins be removed and that they are forbidden to wear underwear, to uphold the traditional and religious values of the emirate.”

The rather posh boutique shop Allied, now called Tanagra, has had a branch in King Faisal Street in Sharjah since time immemorial. Long famous for selling uber-brands such as Baccarat and Cristofle, Allied also sells a neat line (if you like that sort of thing) in Neo Lladro figurines. Many of these consist of women, single or in groups, in classical poses and therefore with ‘milkbars out’. Allied, since the 1980s, has always tied little cloth bikinis to them – a nod to local culture that I have always found delightfully quaint. You wonder if their new owners ever get them home and feel ever so naughty as they tug on the wee knots on the back.

2 comments:

The Daiso store here in Al Ain sells, among other things, cheap knick-knacks and statuettes. When the store first opened, I noticed that they had a lot of statuettes of African women without tops and thought that was surprising. I noticed the last time that I went that all of those ladies now have brown tape "pasties" on.

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I write books, I consult on publishing, media and digital communications, I cook. I spend quite a lot of my time laughing and do try not to be a stick-waving, spittle-flecked angry old man. I fail in this occasionally.